AI-powered cyberattacks are accelerating — now defenders are turning to AI

Artificial intelligence is reshaping cybersecurity on both sides of the fight. Attackers are increasingly using AI to speed up reconnaissance, generate convincing phishing content, automate parts of intrusion campaigns and probe systems more efficiently, while defenders are racing to deploy AI-based tools to detect and respond to threats faster.

The latest warning came from Thales chief executive Patrice Caine, who argued that cybersecurity providers need to fight AI with AI as hostile actors become more capable of using automated tools. Reuters reported the comments on 1 October 2026 at an event showcasing cybersecurity tools.

How attackers are using AI

AI does not automatically give attackers entirely new classes of access, but it can reduce the time and expertise required for some stages of a cyberattack. Generative systems can help produce tailored messages, rewrite malicious content at scale, analyse stolen information and support reconnaissance against organisations and individuals.

Security researchers and government agencies have also been tracking the use of AI by threat actors for scripting, social engineering, information gathering and attempts to accelerate vulnerability research. The practical concern is less about a single autonomous ‘super-hacker’ and more about the way AI can increase speed, scale and persistence.

Why defenders are turning to AI

Cybersecurity teams already deal with enormous volumes of alerts, logs and network activity. AI-based tools can help triage alerts, identify unusual behaviour, correlate events across systems and prioritise incidents that need human attention.

That is the logic behind the industry’s push toward AI-driven defence: if attackers can automate parts of their workflow, defenders need comparable speed to spot and contain suspicious activity before it spreads.

Thales has been expanding its cybersecurity and AI capabilities through products and partnerships, including work involving cloud and data-security technologies. The company’s argument is that stronger automated detection and analysis will be necessary as threat activity becomes more machine-assisted.

AI defence is not a simple solution

Using AI in cybersecurity introduces its own risks. Poorly configured models can generate false positives, miss novel attack patterns or give teams misplaced confidence. Security systems also need strong controls around training data, access privileges and the information supplied to AI tools.

There is also an adversarial problem: attackers can deliberately try to manipulate automated detection systems, poison data or craft activity designed to evade machine-learning models. Human oversight therefore remains essential, particularly for high-impact decisions.

What businesses should do now

For organisations, the rise of AI-enabled attacks does not make established security controls obsolete. Multi-factor authentication, timely patching, secure backups, staff awareness, least-privilege access and strong incident-response processes remain fundamental.

What is changing is the pace. AI can make malicious activity faster and more scalable, which increases the value of rapid monitoring, behavioural detection and automated response where those systems are properly governed.

What comes next

The cybersecurity industry is moving toward an arms race in which both attackers and defenders use AI to improve speed and efficiency. The likely advantage will not come from AI alone, but from how well organisations combine automation with high-quality data, security engineering, governance and experienced human analysts.

Sources

• Reuters — Thales CEO urges industry to ‘fight AI with AI’
• Thales — Cybersecurity and security announcements

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